The present invention relates to the field of communication networks, especially of the home automation type and relates more particularly to a process for identifying apparatus of a home automation network after a bus reinitialization, as well as to an apparatus for implementing the process.
The IEEE 1394 bus defined in the document ‘IEEE Std 1394-1995 High Performance Bus, 1996-08-30’ describes a serial bus for digital transmission allowing the connection of apparatus also referred to as ‘nodes’. Certain nodes comprise a fixed identification number which is unique to them and which is termed the ‘EUI’. Furthermore, a second identifier or ‘physical address’ is associated with each apparatus during the bus initialization phases. This second identifier is referenced as the ‘Physical_ID’ in the abovementioned document and may change for one and the same apparatus at the whim of the bus reinitializations, following for example the connection of a new node or the disconnection of an existing node.
An example of reinitialization and of a process for allocating physical addresses is given in appendix E, sections 3.1 to 3.3 of the IEEE document.
Now, following a reinitialization, a node does not know the physical addresses of the other nodes connected to the bus, but only some of the identifiers EUI of these nodes. So that a node can find another node whose identifier EUI it knows, a reading of each identifier EUI must be performed at the level of each apparatus until the sought-after identifier is obtained, assuming that the node has not been disconnected.
This method of recognizing nodes is slow and generates traffic.
A purpose of the invention is to remedy the drawbacks of the method advocated in the prior art.